204 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



phases of the questions under investigation as they develop; from' the 

 systematic and painstaking manner in which they have been continued 

 through long periods, strengthening the contidcMice in the results; and 

 from the full notes which have been taken at each .stage and placed in 

 permanent form. In «ome of these respects there is still opportunity 

 for the American experiment stations to profit by the methods at 

 Rothamsted, if field experiments are to contiiuie to form so prominent 

 a feature of their work. 



There have been many evidences of Sir John Lawes's deep interest 

 in the American stations. He was in correspondence with some of 

 the leading advocates of the stations before their establishment, and 

 has frequently expi'cssed his admiration of the work which they arc 

 doing. Soon after the establishment of the stations Sir John sent 

 twenty-six handsomely bound sets of the Rothamsted pul)lications, 

 prepared at large cost, to be distributed among the stations as far as 

 the}" would go. and in 1897 he supplemented this gift by a second 

 installment of twenty-six sets, so that practically every station has 

 been provided with a set of these valual)le papers. He also distributed 

 about 800 copies of the outline "memoranda"" of the Rotham^ed 

 investigations among our station workers. His friendly spirit was 

 still further shown by his provision in the Lasves Agricultural Trust 

 for a biennial course of lectures in the United vStates on the work at 

 Rothamsted. He did this, as he said, in order that Americans should 

 feel that they had a share in an}- of the benefits which might arise 

 from the Rothamsted endowment. 



This fraternity of interest has been helpful to the American stations 

 and a source of much gratification. Rothamsted will continue to be to 

 them an inspiration, and under the generous provision of its founder Avill 

 undoubtedly maintain the same high position in which he placed it. 



